Browse Items (46 total)

An employer speaks to her female servant about her clumsiness and her wages. The servant responds wittily and in kind.

Letter to the editor from famous Victorian critic John Ruskin, arguing that in order to create better servants, employers should act worthy of being well-served--that is, they should treat their servants as they themselves would like to be treated,…

Painting of a lady's maid assisting her mistress with her morning beauty routine and select a dress to wear

Group photo of the household staff at Curraghmore House in County Waterford, Ireland. The house was (and still is) owned by the De La Poer Beresfords. Note the powder on the hair of the footmen.

This satirical cartoon depicts the "wrong" and "right" ways to keep a girl servant. The wrong ways are all variations of allowing the maid to do whatever she wants (giving her too much free time, letting her sleep in, etc); the right way to treat a…

Painting of a governess with two of her young charges, i.e. the two girls she cares for

Agnes Bruxner, a governess, tutors Miss Gouley who's reading a book

A novel relating the story of a poor girl who becomes a kitchen maid. She is seduced by a son of her employer.